Hunter Hayes’ CMA Performace — Watch His Fun Duet With Jason Mraz

In 2012, Hunter Hayes was named CMA’s New Artist of the Year. So we had high expectations for his performance on Nov. 6 at the 2013 Country Music Association Awards — and he met every one of them.

One of the hottest young artists in the country world is Hunter Hayes, so we couldn’t wait to see him perform “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me” with the help of Jason Mraz! It was extremely entertaining, and did something that we’ve never seen before from a performance! Watch below!

Hunter Hayes’ Performance At The CMA Awards

The 22-year-old singer started the song backstage (walking by Sheryl Crow making out with a mystery man), before knocking on Jason’s dressing room door.

He and Jason entered the arena, walking through the crowd. They both sang, while Hunter played his guitar. He even giggled through the performance and it was absolutely adorable! Plus, he and Jason’s smooth voices completely compliment one another. It’s no surprise that Jason is one of Hunter’s favorites, as they have a lot in common. (In the pre-show, Hunter admitted Jason was a hero to Hunter!)

Then, for the first time in award show history, he went from performer to presenter mid-song! He decided to sing the nominees for the 2013 New Artist of the Year — and then present it to the winner, Kacey Musgraves! It was cute to see him pass down the thrown to her!

Hunter Hayes: I Have A Lot To Prove

After winning the big award in 2012, Hunter definitely felt the pressure to keep on succeeding.

“What that award said to me was, ‘Maybe I can keep doing what I’m doing,'” he told CMT.com in Oct. 2013. “It was sort of a welcoming into the family. This was saying, ‘You know what? You’re absolutely welcome into the family of country music, and if you want to keep making music, then you’re welcome to.’ That meant that maybe I’ve done something right up until now and, hopefully, I can continue!”

And continue he is. Hunter recently released the “Encore” version of his album, Hunter Hayes, adding five new songs, including his hit with Jason and the song, “I Want Crazy.”

“These are songs that existed in a time warp where it wasn’t like they were written for the new album but were probably going to get lost if we didn’t get them out,” he toldBillboard.com. “Because I wrote them, I’m attached to them, and I feel like they belong in a certain chapter of my career. So I felt like this was an opportunity to finish my introduction and say, ‘This is who I am. Here’s what I’m feeling right now and how the music has evolved after I’ve toured it.’ It’s an update — not the Facebook update where you go, ‘What happened?’ but the IOS update where after this much time of doing this I could bring more energy to the record.”

He’s got a busy schedule too, as he’s finishing his Let’s Be Crazy Tour, which runs through Dec. 7!